1-2 December - Happy birthdays - Happy Birthday both to Thomas Andrew's Kristin (1st) and to Jon Blamire (2nd)!
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Thomas Andrew has flown up the coast to visit Kristin at college and reports from his arrival at Sogndal airport that, having helped unload the luggage from the plane, the local bus driver found that someone's bag had got left on board and had to flag down the departing plane to get the pilot to come back with it. Better service than you get at Heathrow.
4 December - On his return from the same airport, Thomas mentions that he and a couple of other passengers lingered for a while on their way into the waiting area — to give the security person a chance to get back from the coffee machine or wherever and check over their hand baggage. Those of us who used to travel a lot before 2001 (when security checks at Norwegian airports used to be a "surprise" affair, conducted about once a month) would probably just have gone and sat down, but these days it feels strange to do that.
Putting the fun back into funeral - While playing the organ for a funeral at lunchtime today I was quietly hoping that it wouldn't be a long affair. If it was short enough I would make it back to Ørsdalen in time for a tunnel opening; otherwise I couldn't get home until early evening. Once a family member was over 10 minutes into a eulogy it became apparent that I wasn't going to make it; when a second family member followed up with the clear intention of being even longer I began to wonder whether I'd get home at all that night. But the fun really started during the sermon. A lady suddenly started singing, loudly. The vicar hesitated briefly before pushing on bravely. From where I was on the gallery I couldn't see who it was, but when the singing stopped half a minute later it was evident that the lady had been sat upon or removed by concerned relatives. A few minutes later, though, it started again. It was fascinating to see how the family would deal with this evidently nutty relative who had finally gone over the edge. After a while there was a thundering on the stairs up to the gallery and the verger grabbed a microphone and rushed outside with it. Afterwards I went to get the explanation. A nearby theatre had been rehearsing for a Christmas show and had set their radio microphones to the same frequency as those at the chapel ...
5 December - more funeral problems - A Norwegian national newspaper is in trouble today after "accidentally" publishing a death announcement for Father Christmas. Funeral is on 28 December at 1pm, if you want to attend. The newspaper says that someone sent it in and they forgot to check it for accuracy before publishing it.
Wet -
There was an extreme weather warning overnight, continuing into the weekend, with threats of severe disruption and damage to property.
It's high winds and — not snow, but unseasonally heavy rain that is the cause.
It was a relatively quiet night here so far as wind is concerned, but as it came light this morning we could see enough water to make us want to check on the ark.
A couple of photos - left - I'll post some more tomorrow, once we've got a better impression of the damage.
According to the news, various roads and bridges are closed, while ferries are cancelled not only because of high winds but because of too much water.
One of this evening's news headlines is that the crisis team for Egersund has itself been evacuated from the town hall because of the flooding there — and the water is still rising fast. The whole town is on evacuation alert, with the highest flood water levels ever recorded. Earlier in the day they declared it a "50-year flood"; it's now been upgraded to a "100-year flood".
The road towards Vikeså has been closed for some hours due to an avalanche; now the road down the hill on the far side of the Ørsdalen tunnel is apparently also closed for the same reason, so Ørsdalen is thoroughly cut off. Fortunately, we escaped to Sandnes earlier in the day and are staying overnight, so we'll make it to tomorrow's service and Katie's swimming competition!
6 December - extreme weather continues - Katie's swimming competition in Stavanger today. She will be the only representative of Egersund swimming club because all roads out of Egersund are now closed due to flooding. Of course, the Egersund swimming club people ought to be able to swim out; but I bet they don't. Clubs from further north will also be unable to get there for the same reason There's a story in today's newspaper that people in their cabins near the ski centre are unable to return to the town because the road is closed. I've just written to the journalist to remind her that there is actually a whole valley full of people who really live there, all the time, and are stuck behind the same road ...
Mid-day Sunday - The "100-year flood" has been upgraded to "way, way over a 200-year flood" and the water is still rising fast and showing no signs of stopping. "The situation is critical", says the Mayor of Egersund. Naturally, our house is and will remain dry!
It seems unlikely that we'll get home to our house in the near future, though. The road from Vikeså has now been closed for over 24 hours due to avalanche, while the road from the other end is closed due to flooding. Thomas reports that the bridge at Malmei (where you turn off to go up towards Ørsdalen) is now unstable, while the road up towards the ski centre is closed due to flooding (not sure how that works because it's very high up the hillside all the way). And while there's so much chaos on bigger roads there's no chance that anyone will come to deal with little country roads. Over in Egersund they're demolishing buildings upstream from the town centre to prevent them from being carried away by flood waters and crashing into the town. And some major road bridges are seriously under threat from the river. The rain has been falling at a rate of 6 inches a day. The ground would have coped with that, but when it's falling on the deep snow in the mountains, melting it and washing all that down at the same time, it just become impossible to deal with.
Here (left) are some photos of Vikeså this lunchtime.
People are using kayaks to get around the main street and there's a metre of water in the town hall.
"It's like Venice", says the Mayor.
One way and another, the water theme has dominated this weekend. Firstly, there was a baptism service at Tracy's church (photo, right), which was unusual in that the service was transmitted live to extended family in Australia via a Skype link. The church was full, even though much of the baptism family couldn't make it here because of weather-related travel problems.
The next water event was Katie's swimming competition in Stavanger. This went absolutely fine, though it was a little overshadowed by the day's other dramas. Many of the participants couldn't get there, which meant that some of the heats only had one competitor (who thus came both first and last).
So now we're spending this evening and tonight in Sandnes — and hoping very much that it might be possible to get home again tomorrow.
7 December -
Water levels have dropped overnight and the main roads have now re-opened, but it's still unclear whether we'll get home again today.
The road that we need to take up towards the ski centre has a little stream alongside it in places, which is normally a small trickle, 20-30 feet below road level.
Here (photo, left) it was once the water had subsided enough to get to it.
Lunchtime - They've apparently cleared the avalanche at Ivesdal enough to get past it and they're working on the road up towards the ski centre,
which they're hoping to open this afternoon. We might get home yet!
Home in the evening. A good stretch of the road has vanished altogether and diggers have been busy filling the gap with gravel and sand as a start on reconstruction.
Although we were stranded in Sandnes during the flooding and so were unable to take pictures of Ørsdalen, Thomas Andrew has supplied some
(click photo, right, for picture series).
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9 December - shooting yourself in the foot - Today's news reports that a Norwegian policewoman shot herself in the foot while sitting in her police car. We're very sorry for her, of course. But we can't help a little smile at the statement issued by the Chief Constable, Johan Martin Welhaven, in which he assures us that it was an accident ... police officers are good enough at using weapons ... there was no danger to the public ... all procedures were followed (but it just went a bit wrong). Isn't there supposed to be a safety catch or something?
"I'd like a word, too" (right - click for enlargement)
The cake - Katie is baking a cake tomorrow, so while she was swimming this evening she sent me down to the supermarket with a shopping list.
- soured milk
- icing sugar
- baking margerine
- eggs
- chocolate buttons
- an onion
- soft hay
Do you want a piece? I've just decided that Advent is supposed to be a time of fasting ...
Here's your piece of cake (help yourself). It was actually very good. The hay just added to the texture.
14 December - a busy weekend -
Katie has been away at a swimming training camp, Tim and Tracy had a Christmas Workshop at Tracy's church on Saturday (click photo, left, for picture series) and the pre-Christmas service there on Sunday (the last event until January - Tracy's church closes now for the Christmas holidays!) as well as a particularly music-heavy service for Tim at Sandnes church. In between all the rest, Tim's car engine died (possibly terminally - we're awaiting reports) so we're engaging in complicated logistics to get people where they need to be.
But despite it all, the UN's annual International Human Development Index still ranks Norway in overall first place in the world in terms of quality of life. Australia is number 2, while Denmark, Germany, Holland and Switzerland all make it to the top half dozen. The UK makes a very creditable 15th place. In itself, that's gratifying but uninteresting. Where it becomes more of a challenge is when we look at the other end of the scale — those countries in the bottom one and two percent — and at the politics of the refugee crisis. None of these top half dozen countries (other than Germany) have put out much of a welcome mat for refugees ...
Useful tips - Tonight's NRK news carries a potentially useful article offering important advice. It's entitled "Dette må du gjøre når elgen angriper" (This is what you should do when a moose attacks you). So it's worth remembering. Take notes. Their first piece of advice is to "get away as fast as you can" but "don't move quickly". Their second piece of advice is "ikke gå for nært" (don't go too close to it). They also include a nice picture of a moose on a housing estate in Bodø so that you'll recognise it when it's coming for you. So now you know. Good luck!
19 December - Alas, Tim's car really has arrived at the end of its bumpy road; after six-and-a-half years and 220000 kilometres of challenging driving through snow, mud and gravel near home and along German autobahns it finally said "no more!". So we're looking for a replacement that will be equally robust and dependable, without costing the earth. Not easy in Norway!
21 December - Bought a 6-year-old VW Tiguan (picture): smaller and lower than the previous car but still a 4WD diesel which should manage to cope with the conditions here and yet be reasonably comfortable both for the journeys to Sandnes and for our German travels (where it will at least feel at home).
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Shortest day - now we're looking forward to lighter times ...
HAPPY NEW YEAR!